Pansonic offering workers tours of the new city -- Newark -- they'll call home

Rendering courtesy PanasonicArtist rendering of what Panasonic Corporation of North America headquarters could look like when it comes to Newark in 2013. The building, to be named Two Riverfront Center, will rise at the corner of Raymond Boulevard and McCarter Highway.

Newark really isn't so bad.

As the giant electronics maker Panasonic moves forward with its plans to relocate to the city from Secaucus by 2013, Joseph Taylor, CEO of the company's North American division, is busy stressing that message to his employees, who will soon be spending large portions of their days in the city.

"Like it or not, the reality is the overall impression of Newark isn't good, and we want to prove to them it isn't accurate," Taylor said yesterday after an event that kicked off the company's own, well, marketing campaign.

Over the next 18 months, Panasonic will be offering "class trips" to the city so employees have a chance to explore Newark's restaurants and to experience some of its other assets -- the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the Prudential Center and the city's parks, among them. Some workers from the company recently volunteered to help clean up Lincoln Park in an effort to get to know the community.

The goal, Taylor said, is to encourage employees to see that Newark has much more to offer than its perceived reputation.

"I want us to really be a part of the community, and the best way to do that is start now, educating and getting our people excited about it," he said. "It's not our intention to be day-trippers -- in at 9, out at 5."

As part of its campaign, the company invited 50 employees -- and the media -- to a ceremony intended to emphasize the significance of the company's move to Newark. The event was also attended by city, county and state officials, including Gov. Chris Christie, Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo and Lyneir Richardson, the chief executive of Newark's economic development organization, Brick City Development Corporation.

"This was a great chance to use the governor, the lieutenant governor and the town fathers to really start engaging our employees,'' Taylor said.

City officials are working with Panasonic to showcase the city.

Lourdes Rodriquez, an executive assistant in Panasonic's sales division, has lived in northern Newark all her life and said she couldn't believe her luck. In her unofficial role as "social director," Rodriguez has been fielding colleagues' questions about where to go and what to do in Newark, and said she is happy the company is helping its employees with the transition.

"It shows Panasonic's commitment both to the city and to the employees to say, "This is a change, and a lot of people resist change, but this is definitely a good change,' " she said. "If anybody is reticent, to be taken by the hand of the company is definitely the way to go."

Construction on the 12-story office building at Two Riverfront Center, which sits at the busy intersection of McCarter Highway and Raymond Boulevard, is set to begin in April, said Joseph Taylor, CEO of Matrix Development Group, which is building the site with SJP Properties. Taylor of Matrix is not related to the CEO of Panasonic.

The building will become the company's new North American headquarters and employ about 1,000 people.

Panasonic received $102.4 million from the state Economic Development Authority to move to Newark, and signed a lease for the site in April. But Taylor, of Panasonic, said they had "inducements galore" from other cities and states to leave New Jersey. A move elsewhere, he told the audience yesterday, "frankly, was tremendously compelling."

And then Christie, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, the state Economic Development Authority and other officials came calling. That personal commitment and shared vision is what convinced Taylor to stay in New Jersey, he said.

Panasonic's decision was important, particularly at a time the state's reputation as a business-friendly state is strained, Christie said.

"It's a great boon not only to New Jersey's bottom line,'' he said, "but also to New Jersey's psyche."